Hey guys, I am thinking about going to Paraguay but am wondering if they still have this $50 tourist visa fee? Is there any way to get around it. I am Canadian btw.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Hey Gotogoto, How ya doin? this might be dated info, but 2 years ago, this was the drill for a citizen of the United States of America to obtain a visa to enter Paraguay. I received my visa from the Consul of Paraguay in Buenos Aires...

1. Go to a consular office of Paraguay of the country you are in with your passport.
2. Ask for and fill out an application form for a visa.
3. Give your passport and the form to the clerk at the consul, a copy will not work. THEY WILL KEEP YOUR PASSPORT!!!
4. Demand a receipt for your passport. The consul will keep your passport for two to three to four days, maybe longer....
5. Go everyday to the consul and ask for your Paraguay visa and your passport back.
6. Within a few days or so, depending on weekends and holidays, both for the country you are in and official Paraguay holidays, your visa might be ready, (a lick and stick that occupies 1 page of your passport plus 2 documentary stamps, one for *$25.00 USD and another for for $5.00 USD) will be attached.
7. In order to get your passport back, now with a 90 day visa for Paraguay attached, you are "required" to pay $100.00 US in dollars only! One hundred dollars in small bills, a one hundred dollar bill or fifty dollar bills not acepted, nor can you pay with the local currency of the country the consul is in. they might accept credit cards, but no way they were going to get mine!!!

When I asked why the documentary stamps were for a a total of $30.00 USD and I was being required to pay $100.00 USD the clerk grabbed my passport back and said "administrative fees." And, asked "do you have a problem with that?"

I paid the $100.00 dollars in small bills.

I have never surrendered my passport to any consul in the past. I did so this time because the American Embassy informed me that was the only way to obtain a visa for Paraguay, and that it was done regularly.

I noted the plastic on the inside of the front cover off my passport had been sliced so that by separating the edge of the front cover of my passport and the plastic, my passport photo could have been removed and another inserted. This caused me problems later on, until I super glued the plastic back to the inside front cover. Whether during those four days someone else used my passport with a different photo inserted or not, I do not know. But, I did report the incident to the proper US authorities at our embassy here. They could not have cared less. I have noted that US passports have now been upgraded so that this feat of removing passport photo is no longer possible.

I will not ever again apply for a visa for Paraguay. xfiltrate

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Hey xfiltrate, I am doing good. I am headed South for Argentina. I guess I understand why more people do not go to Paraguay now. They must really be losing out on tourist revenue with an annoying entry policy like that. I think I will have to add Paraguay to the skip list unfortuntately. It is too bad because I was looking forward to seeing the Morman colonies in the Chaco.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Gotogoto, A religious sect called the MENNONITES were given a large tract of land in Paraguay.

I believe the Mennonites are in the Chaco. While I understand there are Mormans in Paraguay too, BUT...14,000 MENNONITES.... have colonies in the Chaco. I cannot find data on number of Mormans in Paraguay.

In 1927, a group of MENNONITES were in route to Argentina, when the president of Paraguay who was sailing on the same ship, invited and offered them free land in Paraguay. The Mennonites have created colonies in Paraguay.

I am very interested in obtaining more data about the Mennonite colonies of Paraguay and the experiences of other foreign moto tourists regarding the process of obtaining visas for entrance into Paraguay.

Paraguay could be a mecca for tourists, you are absolutely right. It is a shame so few corrupt officials can made it so difficult for the rest of us. We need more reports on Paraguay.

Be careful Gotogoto, and keep us posted. xfiltrate

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I confirm the are huge colonies of Memonites too in Bolivia on the track to San Ignacio heading to Brazil, east of Santa Cruz. I talked with a few of them during a riding stop in a bar and...i wondered if they just didnt come from another planet...rolled their eyes like a fried fish watching the zoom of my digital camera, asked me which language was talked in France, if it was far from Germany...I did check if their lil finger was foilded to make sure they were not some of those invadors chasing David Vincent in the 1960s tv series...

Lol, that gave me a good laugh. I have a friend who grew up on a farm in a small town and some of the questions he would ask me about sports made me wonder if he grew up on another planet too.

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

Hey guys, now that I have been to Paraguay I wanted to update this thread with my info.

According to my Lonely Planet most non EU citizens including Americans, Australians, Canadians, and New Zelanders need a visa. For Americans the price is $100 US I think, for Canadians and Australians the price is $40 US for sure. To get the visa you must go to the capital city of the neighboring country that you will be crossing the border from. In the capital city you have to go to Paraguay's Embassy and apply for your visa which took me 2 days to get (it can take up to 3 days or less than 24 hours if you are lucky).

To apply for the visa you need to give the embassy your passport and wait the 1-3 day period it takes. Make sure you check at the embassy at least once a day and ask if your passport is still there. The embassy person may tell you (like they did me) to wait an hour and your passport will be ready. This probably means that you will have to wait 5 hours and have the embassy person apologize and tell you to come back the next day.

Note: In Buenos Aires the office of the Paraguayan embassy is near the subway station Callao (on the corner of Avenida Callao and Avenida Scalabrini Ortiz). The street it is on runs parallel to Scalabrini Ortiz and is the neighboring street. (I will try and update this asap but looking around for 10 minutes and asking a few people will allow you to find it to.
Note: You need to pay the embassy in US dollars but unfortunately there are no atms that dispense US in Buenos Aires so you will have to visit a Casa de Cambio.


Once you have your visa you are set for Paraguay. Just make sure that you cross at one of the mainstream border crossings so you can get your entry stamp and not have to pay a penalty fee at the next country. Be careful if you are crossing from the East because to my knowledge only Ciudad del Este has an immigration office. The other points around the country are Encarnation from Argentina, Fortin General Eugenio A. Garay from Bolivia, Pilar from Argentina, Puerto Iguazu from Argentina (by cheap ferry), Foz do Iguacu from Brazil (by bridge) and Pero Juan Cabalero from Brazil.


BTW: Pretty much everything x-filtrate said in the second post was correct. The only thing I found different was that you do not need small denominations of US dollars to pay for your visa, but it is probably not a bad idea in case you get the official in a bad mood that day.
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Here is information I thought was useful from the Trans Chaco thread:

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

I read a post on lonelyplanet.com/thorntree from an Australian guy that waited 3 days for his Brazilian visa in Buenos Aires, and then was denied because he didn`t have a return ticket out as he was travelling (by public transport) overland wherever the wind blew. And a few other people had issues there, but then the same guy went to the Brazilian consulate in Puerto Iguaza and had the visa in 2hrs. He said they mainly gave him advice on where to go in Brazil than ask him questions. So I figured that in this part of Argentina it would be similar for Paraguay, and this morning I obtained a Paraguayian visa from the consulate in Posadas in 1hr, like they said! And treated me above average probably because i`m and extrajero (foreigner) instead of the dirty biker that I am.
They`re open from 7-11am each business day.

Good post, I wish that I had known that you could get your Brazillian visa in Puerto Iguaza. That way I could have taken the bridge from Puerto Iguazu to Ciudad del Este. (Some people say it is possible to cross the bridge without the Brazilian visa.)

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http://www.journeyrider.net Latin America blog (07-8)

The ferry Gato Gato was talking about is about 10km south of Ciudade del Este (PAR) where it crosses straight across the river to Puerto Iguazu (ARG). I know it leaves PAR around 8:30am and returns around 4pm, and parks overnight on the ARG side so must be an hour or 2 earlier for the other direction.
But i didn´t want to wait so rode over the bridge to Brazilian immigration/customs and the one immigration officer on duty said that "it isn´t right, but just ride through Foz De Iguazu (BRA) without stopping until you arrive at ARG entry. So i did, checked out the falls on ARG side while my Brazilian visa was issuing (5hrs with no more than passport & 2 photos required, open 8am) in Puerto Iguazu, and then when i re-entered Brazil to travel through Brazil proper, i stopped at their immigration and customs for the stamps and import doc. Kind of funny since i´d already ridden through their country!
At both borders each of the countries had about 5 customs officers for every immigration officer, so that demonstrates what their priorites are.

Hi Guys
I just read your post and just htink that you guys have no idea whatsoever about what goes on outside your lovely little USA and or CANADA.

xfiltrate you especially have no idea what it is like:
to quote you:
1. Go to a consular office of Paraguay of the country you are in with your passport.
2. Ask for and fill out an application form for a visa.
3. Give your passport and the form to the clerk at the consul, a copy will not work. THEY WILL KEEP YOUR PASSPORT!!!
4. Demand a receipt for your passport. The consul will keep your passport for two to three to four days, maybe longer....
5. Go everyday to the consul and ask for your Paraguay visa and your passport back.
6. Within a few days or so, depending on weekends and holidays, both for the country you are in and official Paraguay holidays, your visa might be ready, (a lick and stick that occupies 1 page of your passport plus 2 documentary stamps, one for *$25.00 USD and another for for $5.00 USD) will be attached.
7. In order to get your passport back, now with a 90 day visa for Paraguay attached, you are "required" to pay $100.00 US in dollars only! One hundred dollars in small bills, a one hundred dollar bill or fifty dollar bills not acepted, nor can you pay with the local currency of the country the consul is in. they might accept credit cards, but no way they were going to get mine!!!

this is a rundown of a paraguayan, argentinian, peruvian, etc etc, al those not fortunate enough to own a passport from a Visaexempt country to try and get into the US and or Canada, even if it is only for a transit to another contry:
1. Go to a consular office of the US, CANADA, etc in the country of brith, not even somewhere else
2. Ask for and fill out an application form for a visa. In the US PAY A NON-REFUNDABLE 100 USD, no matter what their decision is, fee for the VISA
3. Not sure if they keep your passport but 9/11 has not made it easier for foreign nationals to aquire legitimate visas.
4. Make sure you then keep all the paperwork that you were given my the embassy, since any one sigle sheet missing or not filled out properly can result in you getting black listed for quite a while. Make sure that you did not pot a DOT of COMMA in the wrong place, this may annul your VISA application, it's called "fraud" even if you put the DOT in the wrong place: ie date of birth 11.1.1965 instead of 1.11.1965
5. Go to the embassy no earlier than you are told that you application will be processed, if not you will immediately be blacklisted and your paperwork will be returned without further processing. You have annoyed someone from the mighty USA Visa section and cannot make it right.
6. Any country has the right to have its holidays, ie thanksgiving, christmas, easter, among many others, the US embassy is no exception, so don't even think about going there on holidays and or fridays, since this is the worst day to get anything done or get straight answers, people want to go home for the weekend.
7. Depending on where you are, older USD bills might not be accepted, try and find newer bills and don't even think about trying to use local currency, the cashier will say: What is this?
8. If you tried to apply and were denied a VISA, don;t try to apply for another one within the first six months, that would be suspicious and will mean that you loose the 100 USD non-fundable and your paperwork gets thrown in the next trash can.

Remeber that you are not the only country that exists and that the world does NOT revolve around the USA, or CANADA for that matter.
Friend of mine tried applying for a canadian tourist visa, he was denied the visa four times, not being in his country of birth, each time they happily took his money but would not tell him that is was hopeless, since he had been denied a visa before.
Another friend went to the US, somehow the embassy in Europe had screwed up and given her the wrong type of VISA, as an au pair, then she was deported after arriving at the airport, not even given a chance to explain.
You tell me, where is it more difficult to get a VISA for, South America, I don;t think so, its harder to even get a tourist visa for the northern hemisphere than for any country in south ameria, you just have to consider the costs of Visas before you travel.
To top it off, a friedn who is in the waiver program, so he did not need a visa, had to pay the border for a "police check". You have got to be kidding me, from a country that does not need a VISA, they ask for a police check?
I think you guys need to learn to see the world outside of your own little bubble, the world does ont revolve around the USA, CANADA, EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, ETC
It might sound quite bad but the reputation americans get abroad is not a veryu good one, they get their way much too often.
Don't think i am not privileged, I own a passport that allows me to travele freely around most western countries, but i have seen friends who tried and failed, just because they did not have the right passport or a bad looking face for that matter, denied services due to them.

The last poster is correct: it is waaaaayyyy more difficult to get a visa for the USA than for Paraguay (or most places, with a few exceptions). However, I believe the fee is now $150: still nonrefundable, and applicants are still often refused visas without explanation, rhyme or reason.

Many of the fees and procedures we Americans like to complain about so bitterly are merely reciprocal, based on fees for visas to enter the States. Quit complaining, in other words, and be thankful.

But then again, I haven't tried to enter Paraguay yet. If I do find it onerous, I'll be sure and post a mea culpa right here.

Mark

Well hey, I stumbled upon this long-forgotten promise while looking for something else, so I might as well update.

The Paraguay visa was easy as pie in B.A., taking overnight (yeh, I left my passport---but unlike someone who posted above I've done this all over the world for all sorts of visas) and costing $65 US cash. There's a form to fill out, and they ask a single photo. No problem, good service, helpful staff (by bureaucratic standards).

Hope that helps someone down the road.

Mark

What's that? We didn't need a visa.. Crossed Paraguay 3 times now in the last 3 years [2007-2010]. We are Dutch, so I don't know if this applies to US or Canadian citizens?

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- On the road since 2003 in a vintage Land Cruiser

Right. Dutch don't need, USA costs $65, and Canadians can fend for themselves.

Not the most interesting scenery, culture, cuisine or riding I've ever seen, but worth a quick detour at the very least; nice people, cheap travel, lots of adoring fans at every gas stop. And I thought it was hot there, until I crossed back into Brazil and found out what "hot" really means.

Mark

(from Pocone, on the northern edge of the Pantanal)